Malaysian Chinese Association elects new president
05 November, 2018
Wee Ka Siong emerged as the 11th president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) on Monday (Nov 5) after securing a landslide victory in a three-cornered election fight.
Wee, who is the party's incumbent vice president, polled 447 votes to defeat rival and former party vice president Gan Ping Sieu, who had 182 votes. Ngoo Teck Keong, the MCA youth chief for the Beruas division, failed to obtain any votes.
Incumbent president Liow Tiong Lai had said that he would not seek re-election following the party's poor performance in May's general election.
MCA is a component party of the Barisan Nasional coalition which lost to the Pakatan Harapan coalition in the watershed elections.
Liow, who lost his Bentong parliamentary seat in the general election, later announced that he would be stepping down. He also claimed responsibility for the party's poor performance after winning only one seat in parliament.
WEE SOLE MCA MP IN MALAYSIAN PARLIAMENT
Wee is also the party's sole member of parliament, representing the Ayer Hitam constituency in Johor.
Voter turnout for MCA's election was 66.27 per cent or 21,468 of the total 32,397 divisional delegates eligible to vote. The result of the election, which was held on Sunday, was announced at 1am on Monday.
Wee's ally Mah Hang Soon also won the deputy president post with 428 votes against Tee Siew Keong who had 201 votes.
MCA's four newly elected vice presidents are: Lim Ban Hong, Tan Teik Cheng, Ti Lian Ker and Yew Teong Look.
The party also elected 25 new members for its central committee.
Speaking to reporters following the announcement of the results, Wee said that his win was an endorsement by delegates.
"I thank all delegates who placed their confidence in us and I hope the elected team will display seriousness in taking on their responsibilities with dedication,” he said, adding that he will call for a meeting with the new team in the next few days to chart the party's direction.